OHAMR Call for proposals 2026

General Information

• Project title: Targeting Candida survival pathways to create synergistic antifungal therapies.
• Type: Project looking for partner
• Organisation: Queens University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences
• Country: United Kingdom (UK)
• Career stage: Other.

Research area

• Scientific area(s) of the call:
  1. Topic 1: Identify and develop new combination treatments using existing or innovative antimicrobials or antimicrobial with adjunctive treatments to extend drug efficacy and combat resistance.
• One Health Setting:

  H - Human Health

• Keywords:

  Candida antifungal resistance; Antifungal tolerance; Drug-induced fungal stress responses; Antifungal synergy

• Brief description of your expertise / expertise you are looking for:

  While my lab has strong expertise in fungal genetics, molecular biology, and genomic analysis of Candida drug survival mechanisms, translation of these findings will require complementary expertise. This includes 1. Medicinal chemistry for lead optimization and structure–activity relationship studies, 2. In vivo and human-relevant infection models to assess therapeutic efficacy and toxicity, 3. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis to guide dosing and drug combinations, 4. Clinical mycology expertise to ensure relevance to drug-resistant Candida infections and guidance on clinically relevant drug combinations.

• Brief description of your project / the project you would like to join:

  Antifungal resistance is a growing clinical problem, with treatment failure rates approaching 70% in systemic yeast infections. With only four major classes of antifungal drugs available, new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. This project focuses on targeting conserved yeast stress response pathways that confer short-term, phenotypic tolerance to antifungal drugs and provide a window for pathogens to evolve stable genetic resistance. By inhibiting these survival pathways, we aim to both impede the evolution of resistance and resensitize drug-resistant Candida strains to existing antifungals, enabling the development of synergistic combination therapies for hard-to-treat fungal infections

Edel Hyand

• Organisation: Queens University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences
• Position: Associate Professor
• E-mail: e.hyland@qub.ac.uk
• Phone: 02890972298